Please don't pass me the turkey. This Thanksgiving, as I sit down with good friends for an "orphans" dinner, I'll be doing my usual thing. Eating plenty of side dishes and probably bringing my own Tofurky (turkey made of tofu) and veggie stuffing. This might be considered "fanatical" and "extreme" by some, but I just consider it humane. No, I don't like my joyous holidays with a side order of death and torture. Some of you probably imagine your turkey was living a charmed life pecking away at grass on a farm before some kind farmer snuck up behind him and took his life with some quick, humane blow. Uh, no. Turkeys at a Butterball plant have been videotaped being struck, kicked, thrown, and battered with long sticks before being killed. That's your dinner. I consider that extreme.
Butterball, the largest manufacturers (i.e. killers) of turkeys, has previously been accused of animal abuse at their plants, though they claim to have a "zero tolerance" policy for it. But Mercy for Animals, an animal rights group, has (surprise!) caught them at it again -- this time at a plant in North Carolina. The birds are shown being kicked, grabbed, thrown, and dragged. Injured, bloody birds lie on the ground, their eyes begging for mercy. If you think they somehow don't feel this, you'd be wrong.
If you've ever wondered why you feel so depressed, so angry, so out-of-sorts, think about the cruelty you're consuming. You're eating tortured souls.
I've always been inclined toward vegetarianism -- even before I knew about animal cruelty. But in my early 20s, I was still making one exception: I'd eat turkey on Thanksgiving. My grandmother went to a lot of trouble making a big fat turkey, and I figured, What the heck. It's just this once.
But then about 20 years ago, there was a huge bird flu epidemic in somewhere like China. They began slaughtering every chicken and turkey they could find. That's when I realized -- this stuff is not good for me. So I stopped eating fowl right then and there.
I've never regretted my decision -- I don't even remember what meat tastes like. And there are plenty of meat substitute alternatives. I eat veggie sausage. Veggie burgers. Veggie chili. You name it.
This year, I'm either going to buy a Tofurky or, if I don't think I can use all of that, make vegetarian shepherd's pie with veggie burgers. It's delish! By the way, I'm the same size I was in high school. Nyah!
Will you eat turkey this Thanksgiving? Will you eat it after watching this video?
Image via Mercy for Animals/YouTube
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Comments 32
But, I do eat turkey, and pretty much any other meat. I make attempts to shop brands of reputable producers most of the time, except poultry, I don't bother because there are zero reputable poultry farms in my area, and I'm not traveling 200+ miles to look at a farm. Nor will I stop eating it.
I don't really care what people think of me for it, but with the rarity that we eat poultry, its simply not important enough to me to bother fretting about.
The tortured souls comment, btw, makes you sound like a loon.
My turkey is fattening up right now. We personally selected our bird from a cruelty-free farm. The turkeys walk around, socialize with each other, eat a foraged and organic diet, and grow at a normal rate. It isn't cheap, but these birds are DELICIOUS. The breasts are kind of small compared to Walmart turkeys, but they're not dry and jacked up with injected shit, either. I can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner! We usually have prime rib or duck. I'm so glad we can have a gorgeous bird on the table this year.
At the Turkey/Chicken plant I worked at there is a strict policy regarding this, caught once and you're fired and can' come back at all. I've seen it happen before, they are serious. Now PETA will only show you the little hovels that a farmer will use for market, as in that organic eggs you buy from them. Yeah those chickens are most likely tortured. You'll be amazed what PETA or any other organization will find and push it as fact or that this is how all of them are.
And I don't regret my decision to eat meat. Its delicious. I guess I'm going to feel pretty crappy with all those animal souls haunting me.
omg why spend all this money on animals and their rights! it used to be you put an animal down any way then butcher it and put in on the table. i will be eating a nice turkey with my family there is nothing wrong with that. how it died does it matter its dead. you are the kind of people that give money and resourses to animal shelters in a distater in stead of to the humans who need it. now i love animals but come on most animals are bred for food get used to it you hippies
I am going to agree that the tortured souls comment was a bit out there, which is a shame because aside from that, you are making a point that I believe most people would agree with if they would just stop and think about it.
I do not believe that most people in this world would be OK with the way factory-farmed animals are raised. I believe most people who eat meat from factory farms either don't know or choose not to think about the way the animals are treated.
I will eat turkey from a local family farm this year, as I do every year. The meat from small farms using humane and environmentally-friendly practices yield is better for the people who work on the farm, better for the earth, and better for your body - and, of course, better for the animals who spend their lives there.
This is the way our food was produced for hundreds of years, before family farms became a thing of the past.
Please, everyone, don't equate eating cruelty-free with nutso comments about tortured souls!